WEST BANK: Israeli army kills two West Bank militants

Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian militants during an arrest raid in the West Bank town of Nablus on Sunday (April 22). The two men, members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is an offshoot of President Mahmmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, were shot during a gun battle that broke out after Israeli troops surrounded the house they were in, local residents said. Palestinian paramedics evacuated the bodies into an ambulance. Mourners who rushed to the site, wept over the bodies and chanted anti-Israel slogans while gunmen fired in the air. An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers had operated in the area but gave no further details. The incident came a day after the bloodiest day of fighting in months between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants, during which six Palestinians were killed in a number of incidents in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Nablus residents said Israeli troops had surrounded the house where the militants had holed themselves up for several hours. They also said a rocket attack was carried out on the building.

ITN Source | April 22, 2007

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